Many EFL/ESL teachers make the transition from General English teaching to EAP teaching with little to no additional formal teacher education (Alexander, 2013). While all language schools in the UK require an Initial Teacher Training qualification (such as the CELTA or CertTESOL), and possibly a subsequent higher qualification (DELTA/DipTESOL), there is no similar gatekeeping qualification for EAP teaching; it is seen as another strand of English teaching like YL, Business English or IELTS/exam preparation, for which additional training is a bonus rather than a necessity.
Yet the presence of accrediting bodies such as BAELAP, and the related EAP-focused short courses or PG qualifications suggests that there is a perceived need, on the part of the institutions, the teachers themselves, or both, for dedicated EAP teacher education. To understand how teachers identify themselves as EAP practitioners, we need to also understand their attitudes towards, and interaction with, the educational and training opportunities available to them.
A small-scale research project was conducted to address the ways in which teachers form their own professional identities as EAP practitioners, and how that affects, or is informed by, teacher training and CPD opportunities. Data was drawn from questionnaires given to the EAP and General English teachers at The University of Liverpool over the summer of 2018, and also from a small number of semi-structured interviews. The findings were presented at the EAP in Ireland conference on 6th October 2018; you may email the researcher to request the slides from this presentation.
This initial inquiry has also served to formulate possibilities for further research, which the researcher hopes to investigate over the coming year. Some of these further questions include: a comparison of numbers between teachers who say they would like more EAP specific training and qualifications and the uptake of such offerings, an investigation of the socio-political factors affecting teacher identity, and collection of further information around the perceived issues with employer-provided or in-house CPD provision.
Indicative References:
- Alexander, O. (2013). The leap into TEAP: The role of the BALEAP competency framework in the professional development of new EAP teachers. Academic English.
- Morgan, B. (2010). Fostering conceptual roles for change: Identity and agency in ESEA teacher preparation. Kritika Kultura, (15).
- Ding, A., & Bruce, I. (2017). The English for academic purposes practitioner: Operating on the edge of academia. Springer.
- Campion, G. (2012) The Learning never ends: investigating teachers’ experiences of moving from English for General Purposes to English for Academic Purposes in the UK context; What are the main challenges associated with beginning to teach EAP, and how can these challenges be overcome? Unpublished Masters Dissertation. University of Nottingham.
- BALEAP (2008) Competency Framework for Teachers of English for Academic Purposes
- BALEAP (2014) TEAP CPD Scheme
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